He rose quickly, Levan wiped his face with his hand, trying to dispel the lingering effects of the dream. Then he opened the door, finding Romo standing with his usual smile. "Sorry... I was sleeping deeply," Levan said in a faint voice. Romo turned his back, laughing. "Haha! Strange for me to say this, but you are late for training, you who are never late."
Levan did not respond but followed him silently, still feeling that the dream was not a fleeting fantasy. Rather, it was a hidden message he had not yet grasped.
In the training square on the village outskirts, the children lined up for the last training round before their anticipated trip to the academy. The air was pure; however, tension was clear on their faces. Everyone was moving and fighting using wooden sticks, while some glances sneaked towards Levan whenever possible.
Romo engaged in a quick duel against one of the boys, winning through speed and an ability to read movements. Consequently, the youngsters clapped enthusiastically; cheers rose from here to there.
At that moment, Coach Ghoso approached Levan, calling him in an audible voice: "Since you are the strongest here, your last training will be against me."
Whispers prevailed among the children. Some were shocked; others exchanged tense glances. "Against the coach?!" "Has he lost his mind? It's Ghoso, the owner of second-level Zen!"
Despite that, Levan did not retreat but advanced steadily towards the middle of the square. His features were calm; his gaze, confident. He offered a short smile, stating, "Okay... let's start fighting."
The children gathered around the square. Some sat down; others stood on tiptoes. Ghoso stood firm in the opposite direction, watching Levan closely. "Attack whenever you want," he said.
Levan moved immediately. His steps were light, precise, as if the ground did not feel his weight. He jumped with a straight kick towards the coach's head. Ghoso bent over at the last moment, avoiding the blow with a practiced movement. Then he slid sideways, his eyes fixed on his opponent.
Levan landed smoothly, turned his body without hesitation, and directed a low blow towards the coach's ankle. Ghoso jumped upwards; his cloak rose with the air. The sun's rays reflected on his tense forearm.
From afar, one of the children shouted, "Wow! Where did he disappear?!" Everyone began searching with hastening eyes, until Ghoso looked confused.
"He's behind you!" another child shouted.
Ghoso turned around quickly, surprised to find Levan standing behind him, his arm extended, about to strike. He avoided the attack with difficulty; however, his breathing was no longer regular. A drop of sweat trickled from his forehead as he whispered, "This boy... I don't feel any Zen in him, yet... his movements are almost impossible."
He retreated a step, planted his feet, raised his arm towards the sky, and declared, "Now you will see the real Zen; the second level is what opens the door to abilities."
A gray aura began to rise from his hand like heavy smoke, distorting the air. Consequently, the ground shook slightly; the atmosphere became denser, as if his energy was pressing on the place.
Behind Levan, a huge rock rose, almost twice his size, as if the earth responded to Ghoso's energy. "It's Zen!", "Second level!", "The rock is moving!"... the youngsters' voices rose.
With that, Levan did not move. His features lost focus; his eyes turned completely white, as if his soul separated for a moment. Inside his consciousness, the black void returned; a gray screen appeared before him, on which was written:
[1/50 – First Skill]
He returned to his consciousness in a moment, but something in him had changed. He raised his hand without thinking, as if something internal was controlling him.
The rock that Ghoso made began to tremble, then moved slowly, not towards Ghoso but towards Levan's hand.
Ghoso gasped; his eyes widened. He muttered in astonishment, "This is not my energy..."
In the next moment, Levan fell to his knees, his breath ragged, his hands trembling, his gaze lost. He whispered in a barely audible voice, "What is this... what did I see? What is this power?"
Ghoso remained standing in his place, his features frozen, his eyes fixed on Levan. He did not utter a word, only wiped his sweat as he approached with a step, thinking to himself, "If this is real... it's best that I remain silent."
He turned to the youngsters and announced in a formal tone, "Training is over for today."
The trainees exchanged glances in confusion, as they thought that Ghoso was the one who moved the rock, without realizing that the boy was the one who did it.
On the other side of the square, under the shade of a dense tree at the village edge, sat an old man from a neighboring village. He had been watching the training silently from the beginning. His appearance suggested he was a passing visitor; however, his gaze was not like that of any stranger.
When he saw what Levan did, a slight expression appeared on his face—a mixture of surprise and confirmation. Then he rose quietly, turned his back, and muttered in a low voice, "It seems that the eighth... is unusual compared to the seven who preceded him."
He paused for a moment, glanced at the gray sky, and said to himself in a deep tone, "The world... is about to turn upside down."
He continued walking afterward, disappearing among the village trees, as if his existence was no more than a shadow that passed fleetingly.
That night, Levan sat at the table with his adoptive mother, Mara. The place was neither spacious nor the food varied, but the warmth that filled the moment was enough to make them feel that what was happening between them was more important than anything else. Mara sat opposite him, her hands clasped on the tabletop; her eyes watched him silently, as if her gaze alone was trying to say what words could not. She breathed slowly, then said in a faint voice in which worry mingled with pleading, "They told us that a vehicle will come tomorrow... to take you to the academy." She stopped for a short moment, as if words failed her, then added in a trembling tone, as if it was being torn from her heart, "Please, my son, return to me safe; do not forget this house, nor my heart that will remain hanging on you until you return."
On the opposite side of the table, Levan remained silent for a moment, staring at her features with still eyes, as if a part of him was caught within her sadness. He did not know how to respond, but he felt that silence at that moment would be an additional wound. So he smiled slightly, extended his hand, and gently took her palm. It was trembling, yet she did not withdraw it. He said in a low voice, steady despite all that churned within him, "Mother Mara... do not cry. I am fine, and I will return, stronger than before, for you and for this village."
She did not answer him, only nodded her head while a warm tear slipped from the corner of her eye and settled on her hand without her wiping it away. The gazes between them remained suspended, as if time had stopped for a moment that neither of them wanted to end. Then Levan rose slowly, pressed her hand for a final moment before letting go, and headed to his room with quiet steps, while a single thought accompanied him silently, never leaving him… the new skill he had mastered without telling anyone.
Before he fell asleep, his body lay on the bed, but his mind did not rest. Levan kept staring at the dark ceiling; the moment in the square kept flashing in his mind, specifically when he used that skill without full awareness. What he did was not just an imitation of Ghoso's movement; it was deeper, more like something that crept into him and settled inside him.
Earlier in the evening, after dinner, he sneaked behind the house, trying to repeat the strike he had seen. He was surprised to find his body moving with a strange smoothness, as if the skill had settled in his physical memory, rather had become a part of him that did not resemble memorization or imitation.
"I... contained the skill?" he muttered to himself, clasping his hands as he had done then, recalling the position and the movement. But he could not ignore the question that remained stuck in his head: "What does 1/50 mean?" That gray screen that appeared during his use of the skill was not an illusion; it was clear and specific, as if it was part of a system that no one but him saw.
Could he really contain fifty skills? Was all he needed to do see them? Or were there other conditions that he still did not know? Where did that screen come from in the first place? No one in the village had talked about anything similar... not even Mara.
He pulled the blanket over his body. The questions multiplied inside him as if they were chasing him, but he felt that sleep might be the only way out. Perhaps he could return to that place where everything appeared, that gray world. With the last flicker of consciousness, the thoughts gradually faded, and his eyes finally closed.
In the morning of the next day, before Levan opened his eyes, he found himself again in the same black void he had visited in his first dream. He did not feel surprised this time; a slight smile appeared on his face, as if something within him had confirmed what he had been suspecting. He stared into the darkness and whispered, "As I expected... I can access this place by my will. I am beginning to understand the system little by little."
What caught his attention was not the void, but a gray door in the middle with a clear number above it: 1. He frowned as he contemplated it, then said, "This door was not here before. Does it have something to do with my acquiring the first skill?"
He raised his hand without hesitation and summoned the skill he had contained from Ghoso. A huge rock formed before him, while the surrounding space responded to his movement as if the laws of this place were responding to his will. He tried to move it, and it responded slowly, heavily, not with the power it had appeared with Ghoso, but it was tangible, real.
He said softly, "I can train here..." He paused for a moment, "But... is there a price? Consequences?" He found no answer, but an inner feeling urged him to move forward.
He focused his eyes on the door, approached cautiously towards the entrance, breathed confidently, and muttered, "In any case... I will go through the experience."
END..